The first thing I did this morning was put on my exercise clothes and start this workout that I mentioned yesterday. I’m determined to make morning exercise a habit. Only because I find it very hard to exercise in the evenings. Who I am kidding? I find it hard to exercise at all times, but in the evening I can find way more excuses than I can in the morning.

I’m creating an environment that caters to this habit by…

1. having my workout clothes ready to put on first thing in the morning

2. no internet, work, eating or cleaning before I’ve had a morning workout.

3. take care of chores the night before.

4. stop waiting for on perfection. My perfectionist tendencies get in my way all the time. I want to be more flexible about what I consider a perfect morning because there never will be one. There may be mornings where I just can’t do a full workout physically, this morning my knee and back were twingy- but I moved anyway.

5. do this for 30 days in a row. If you’ve read my blog for any amount of time, you’ll know that I struggle with consistency. I never get to the point where these positive actions become habits.

6. make a list of the possible out comes from this daily exercise. ie: getting in shape, better health etc.

And also, when did jumping rope become the most difficult form of exercise ever? Holy hell! I used to jump rope all the time (of course I was a fraction of the size I am today), but it is seriously hard.

Breakfast this morning was 1 c. plain whole yogurt, 1 T honey, 1 C blueberries. This wasn’t as sweet as I usually eat my yogurt and only 324 calories. I’m working on cutting way back on sugar and getting used to flavors that aren’t loaded with sugar, salt or fat. This one is difficult for me. I could easily eat a vanilla yogurt with jam and granola and stack up lots of excess sugar before noon!

My workout this morning is brought to you by my love for cheesy pop music! This is the first workout that I’ve done in way too long that I was actually excited to do. It hit all of my workout requirements: 1) no watching time/countdowns/clocks etc. 2) pop music 3) dancing 4) a decent sweaty workout 5) can be done anywhere and without equipment 6) is fun and gets me out of my head 7) isn’t repetitive

As you can see from my play list I matched up each song with an action item. I drew exercises for arms, legs, and abs from memory. I have this idea to create a notebook filled with workouts from magazines and the internet that is sectioned off in each category, so that when I workout I can just flip to the page that I want to do that day. Soon!

Yesterday’s lunch was leftover (homemade) vegetable korma. This is our new favorite, I could eat this all week.

Dinner was grilled (on my cast iron griddle) salmon seasoned with garlic, honey, ginger, salt, olive oil and sriracha sauce, a side of grilled broccoli, 1 T herbed cheese, sweet peppers and a salad. The broccoli and lettuce were from our CSA box that Josh won in an auction.

Earth shattering, right? These breakfast burritos only have about 250-300 calories and they keep me full for hours! Just a scrambled egg with a little cheese and vegetables on a whole wheat wrap. So good! I found these wraps at the Fresh Market awhile ago and have been avoiding them because whole wheat wraps have failed me in the past. But, these are pliable and super thin, just like regular white ones.

The brand is Wrap-Itz in case you’re wondering. I’m trying to convince myself that they are worth the 45 minute drive to pick up another package.

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I hope you all had a lovely Father’s Day weekend! I worked a lot on my other website and we had a cookout on Saturday for Josh’s dad. I made this spicy honey chicken which has never failed me.

I’m so pleased with my morning exercise streak and making it my goal to complete another week of exercise.

And so now I have a little confession. I went back and forth as to whether or not I wanted to share this until I actually did the work, but I’m not one to keep things to myself, so here goes…

I’m finding that the best way to motivate myself and get stuff done is by changing my attitude. This isn’t easy. I’m a firm believer that if I don’t like something, I need to change it and if I can’t change it, I need to change how I feel about it. There are things I can’t change about weight loss. I can’t change that I need to eat less and better, and I can’t change that I need to exercise. I can’t avoid these actions and expect to get results.

I’m slowly getting out of these bad habits by this one simple reminder: make it fun. Often times, and more often than not, the stuff that I get in my head about, and put off and dread aren’t that bad. There are worse alternatives to eating fresh berries, grilled chicken, brown rice, sauteed vegetables, salads with eggs and mozzarella, salmon with ginger and olive oil…am I wrong here? I remind myself that there are people who would love to have my problems.

Every time I feel that moment of hesitation, of I can’t do this, the I don’t want to do this!, and it’s just too hard, I know that I need to change my attitude more than the action, especially if said action produces a result that I desire.

This can and does go in all aspects of my life, from work to eating better.

So how do I change my attitude? It’s not always easy and I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not always successful at it. But sometimes, it involves writing down why I’m frustrated and then following it with a paragraph with the reasons why it’s a good decisions.

I dance between steps, I give myself a sticker, I reward myself with a song from itunes, I watch an episode of Dawson’s Creek something age appropriate, I write out all the steps in my best cursive, I make a game out of it (how many stickers can I earn today!?), I add feta (it makes everything better), I get dressed up, I suspend my disbelief, I have a good laugh, I torment my fears, I email a friend, I set a fancy table for my really healthy meal, I eat slowly and pretend it’s the best meal I’ve ever made, I make a happiness collage, I do 20 jumping jacks or turns on the jump rope, I buy or pick flowers, I celebrate my small steps today and ignore the million more I need to take, I write out the results…

I like to challenge myself to bring happiness into the mundane, to every day, to the stuff I need to do because it won’t always be fun not to eat anything and everything I want, or to finish a tough project, meet a deadline, return emails, exercise for an hour, be prepared for cravings, have food within reach, to have a plan, to stick with said plan.

I cannot begin to tell you or express how much your support in my last post means to me! To say that I wasn’t expecting that kind of response is an understatement. I was so scared to share that one with those who read here. I’m glad I did. I feel like this is my jumping off point to show results with.

Also, I started reading The Skinny Rules and following Bob’s rules this week. They’re easy, yet hard. No sugar, no white flour, lots of decent food that I love, but it’s still hard especially during the social summer season. I’m trying to concentrate on what I can have versus what I can’t and moving on. I decided not to count calories with his plan, he recommends 1,200 for women, and I just can’t get into that head space. It’s hard for me to overeat the recommended foods, and if I feel like I’m not losing weight, I’ll count. I do track my portions (only 2 servings of whole grains a day, etc.) and I’m keeping a food journal. So far, after two days, I’m down 3 pounds.

This is my healthy alternative to fast food. I like to trick myself into thinking that eating healthier requires a lot of time, energy, effort and planning. And while sometimes it does, that isn’t always the case.

This breakfast was thrown together in just a couple of minutes and I have a feeling it’s going to be in my regular rotation. I can imagine eating this berry toast on a road trip instead of stopping for biscuits, or bringing it along to the beach or a picnic.

Here’s the overly simple recipe:

Toast whole wheat bread (I just set my oven to 400 and let it toast in the preheat time). Spread goat cheese. Top with chopped strawberries and blueberries. And that’s it! I think this would be good with a drizzle of honey too.

I like that this is a more filling and less sugary alternative to toast with butter and jam.

I’m on the fence about things like turkey bacon, there is a part of me that would much rather eat nitrate-free local bacon and skip all of the extra processing and chemicals that go into turning turkey into bacon. Not that pork bacon isn’t processed and often has nitrates, but there is something wrong about turkey bacon (and turkey burgers, and ground meat for that matter) to me. Am I alone here?

Here are my workout goals for the week. Insanity will be done in the evenings with Josh and the rest will be done in the mornings on my own. I love exercise that gets stuff done like vigorous cleaning and yard work, so I’ve included that as well. Yard work wears me out!

I always look forward to getting into a stretch of Insanity, and this time I’m committing to 12 weeks, which will take me right into September for my best friend’s wedding! She has us wearing this strapless number…

… and I’m not about to do that without putting in all those Insanity push-ups!

Breakfast was served outside on the deck this morning. Pure happiness for me. The weather was perfect! I had egg, bacon, and provolone on an everything bagel thin with a side of strawberries. 360 calories total.

I want to eat something. Not because I’m hungry, but because I feel like I deserve it. Because I’m tired and I have a few busy days ahead of me. Because I’m worried about getting it all done. Because I’ve been so good eating-wise.

Instead, I’m going to drink a glass of ice water, take out my contacts, put on my pajamas, maybe watch a little TV and head to bed.

I made another Nicoise salad Friday evening and then we went out for drinks after, Saturday I made pancakes, went to the farmer’s market, made vegetable korma and practiced the piano, Sunday we went to the lake/beach and then stopped for Mexican food on the way home.

For breakfast this morning I had an all from Floyd breakfast of sausage (and a little gravy made with almond flour), brown bread with butter and honey, an apple and two eggs. I’m still full and it’s almost 4pm!

Today’s workout came from pinterest:

This is from Fantasmo and it was hard! I get bored easily and so I thought I’d actually try one of these workouts that I always see on pinterest. I just printed it out and went with it. I did this outside around the house.